Kylie Grimes, who sued friend’s father after sustaining injuries from diving into swimming pool, loses compensation bid A woman who launched a £6m damages claim after being left paralysed when she hit her head on the bottom of a swimming pool during an impromptu late-night party has lost her high court action. Kylie Grimes was hurt in August 2006 when she dived into the indoor pool at the Surrey home of David Hawkins, managing director of a forklift truck business. Grimes, now 23, of Farnham, claimed that her injuries were caused by Hawkins’s negligence or breach of his duties under the Occupiers’ Liability Act. She was left paralysed from the chest down after the force of the impact broke a vertebra below the base of her neck. At a hearing in May, Mrs Justice Thirlwall, sitting in London, heard that Hawkins and his wife were away that night but had given permission for daughter Katie, who had just left college, to have two friends over as she was not happy on her own. Katie Hawkins told the court that she phoned her father for permission to bring three more but, in the end, a group of about 20 came back to the house from the pub. Mr Hawkins, of Farnham, denied liability. His counsel, William Norris QC, told the judge that no sound legal basis existed upon which he could be held liable for the accident which happened in an “unremarkable swimming pool on domestic premises when the claimant, an adult, chose to do something which involved an obvious risk”. Thirlwall, who was only ruling on the issue of liability, dismissed the claim against Hawkins on Wednesday. She said: “The pool was not unsafe for diving. I have no doubt that some mature adults faced with a group of young adults in high spirits, some of whom had had too much to drink, would send them all home rather than allow any of them into a swimming pool. “But that is not to say that the duty owed to the claimant [Grimes] under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 required the defendant to put the pool out of bounds that night.” Thirlwall added: “The defendant was not required to adopt a paternalistic approach to his visitors, all of whom were adults, all of whom were making choices about their behaviour that night.” The judge concluded: “I do not accept that it is incumbent on a householder with a private swimming pool to prohibit adults from diving into an ordinary pool whose dimensions and contours can clearly be seen. “It may well be different where there is some hidden or unexpected hazard, but there was none here.” She ruled that Hawkins was not in breach of his duty to Grimes under the Occupiers’ Liability Act and she also dismissed the claim of negligence against him. Disability guardian.co.uk
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Dogs in Jiangmen to be seized and put down to improve sanitation but experts brand plan unscientific and inhumane A southern Chinese city has banned pet dogs, leaving tens of thousands facing a cull unless they can find new homes. Authorities in Jiangmen, Guangdong province, say they are concerned about rabies cases and the general state of the city. But animal lovers have reacted angrily and a disease control expert warned the tactic, which will affect 30,000 animals, is unscientific, inhumane and short-term. Any dogs seen in the Pengjiang, Jianghai and Xinhui districts after 26 August will be seized or killed, city officials say. Guard dogs will be allowed, but only for companies with property worth at least 5m yuan (£474,000). The Jiangmen Daily said officials aimed to “prevent and control rabies, maintain public order and sanitation, and create a sound environment for the people”. The newspaper added that 42 of the city’s 4 million residents had died from rabies in the past three years. “Dogs found with diseases will be euthanised in a humanitarian manner. We will sign agreements with owners before putting down their dogs,” Li Wantong, technology director at an animal disease control centre in Jiangmen, told the Global Times. “We will try to find solutions for healthy ones, as we do not have the capacity to keep a large number.” Some residents back the move, with one complaining to the newspaper: “[Dog] excrement is everywhere in the courtyard and parks, and their barking always disrupts my sleep.” But a poodle owner said: “Banning all pet dogs, taking them away and killing them is a bit too much.” Dog ownership has soared as Chinese incomes have risen over the past few decades and there is growing interest in animal rights , particularly among the middle class. “This [ban] is not scientific, not humane, and it will not last long. In short term, maybe it could be effective, but after that, people still want to keep dogs,” said Dr Tang Qing of the National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention at China’s Centre for Disease Control. “People won’t accept it and implementing it will be difficult – you can’t break down doors to seize and kill dogs.” He added that a vaccination programme for dogs would be cheaper and more effective. China has the world’s second-highest death toll from rabies after India, with cases rising sharply in the past decade, possibly due to increasing pet ownership and rising healthcare costs. The health ministry says 3,300 people died of the disease in 2007, although the toll fell to 2,466 in 2008 and experts believe the worst may be over. A 2009 ministry report said only a fifth of China’s 75m dogs were vaccinated against the disease. It added that 40 million people a year were bitten by animals . Dr Kati Loeffler, veterinary adviser for the International Fund for Animal Welfare in China, said: “Decades of research internationally have shown culling is absolutely ineffective in controlling rabies – the only way to control it is through mass vaccination. The second reason that [officials] do it is because people are not taking care of their animals … causing nuisance. That requires education.” In several cases tightened dog ownership rules have led people to abandon pets, resulting in a large stray population that potentially causes more problems. Two years ago, Hanzhong in Shaanxi enraged animal lovers by announcing it had culled 36,000 stray and pet dogs. Additional research by Han Cheng China Animal welfare Animals Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk
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Dogs in Jiangmen to be seized and put down to improve sanitation but experts brand plan unscientific and inhumane A southern Chinese city has banned pet dogs, leaving tens of thousands facing a cull unless they can find new homes. Authorities in Jiangmen, Guangdong province, say they are concerned about rabies cases and the general state of the city. But animal lovers have reacted angrily and a disease control expert warned the tactic, which will affect 30,000 animals, is unscientific, inhumane and short-term. Any dogs seen in the Pengjiang, Jianghai and Xinhui districts after 26 August will be seized or killed, city officials say. Guard dogs will be allowed, but only for companies with property worth at least 5m yuan (£474,000). The Jiangmen Daily said officials aimed to “prevent and control rabies, maintain public order and sanitation, and create a sound environment for the people”. The newspaper added that 42 of the city’s 4 million residents had died from rabies in the past three years. “Dogs found with diseases will be euthanised in a humanitarian manner. We will sign agreements with owners before putting down their dogs,” Li Wantong, technology director at an animal disease control centre in Jiangmen, told the Global Times. “We will try to find solutions for healthy ones, as we do not have the capacity to keep a large number.” Some residents back the move, with one complaining to the newspaper: “[Dog] excrement is everywhere in the courtyard and parks, and their barking always disrupts my sleep.” But a poodle owner said: “Banning all pet dogs, taking them away and killing them is a bit too much.” Dog ownership has soared as Chinese incomes have risen over the past few decades and there is growing interest in animal rights , particularly among the middle class. “This [ban] is not scientific, not humane, and it will not last long. In short term, maybe it could be effective, but after that, people still want to keep dogs,” said Dr Tang Qing of the National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention at China’s Centre for Disease Control. “People won’t accept it and implementing it will be difficult – you can’t break down doors to seize and kill dogs.” He added that a vaccination programme for dogs would be cheaper and more effective. China has the world’s second-highest death toll from rabies after India, with cases rising sharply in the past decade, possibly due to increasing pet ownership and rising healthcare costs. The health ministry says 3,300 people died of the disease in 2007, although the toll fell to 2,466 in 2008 and experts believe the worst may be over. A 2009 ministry report said only a fifth of China’s 75m dogs were vaccinated against the disease. It added that 40 million people a year were bitten by animals . Dr Kati Loeffler, veterinary adviser for the International Fund for Animal Welfare in China, said: “Decades of research internationally have shown culling is absolutely ineffective in controlling rabies – the only way to control it is through mass vaccination. The second reason that [officials] do it is because people are not taking care of their animals … causing nuisance. That requires education.” In several cases tightened dog ownership rules have led people to abandon pets, resulting in a large stray population that potentially causes more problems. Two years ago, Hanzhong in Shaanxi enraged animal lovers by announcing it had culled 36,000 stray and pet dogs. Additional research by Han Cheng China Animal welfare Animals Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media Rachel Maddow summed up pretty nicely why we saw the reaction we got from Wall Street to the debt ceiling deal that John Boehner was so pleased with “getting 98%” of what he wanted in finally being passed this week: MADDOW: After the debt ceiling deal got signed, that’s what happened on Wall Street — about twenty little green boxes in a sea of about four hundred and eighty red ones. Everybody’s been talking about how the markets would tank if we didn’t reach a debt ceiling deal. Today we got a debt ceiling deal, and the markets still tanked. And the markets tanked because this debt ceiling deal, just passed today in the Senate and was signed into law by a lonely President Obama, signing the law with nobody standing behind him — this debt ceiling deal is essentially telling an economy that has just been run over by a car that now it needs to lay down in the road again, so we can back up over it and run it over a second time. As Rachel noted here, the Economic Policy Institute reported that all in all, this deal could end up costing Americans 1.8 million jobs — What’s missing from the debt ceiling debate? Jobs : The unemployment rate, currently above 9 percent, is projected to remain high for a long time. For example, the current Blue Chip Economic Indicators consensus forecast puts the average unemployment rate for 2012 at 8.3 percent. The agreement to raise the debt ceiling just announced by policymakers in Washington not only erodes funding for public investments and safety-net spending, but also misses an important opportunity to address the lack of jobs. The spending cuts in 2012 and the failure to continue two key supports to the economy (the payroll tax holiday and emergency unemployment benefits for the long term unemployed) could lead to roughly 1.8 million fewer jobs in 2012, relative to current budget policy. The agreement would reduce spending by at least $1 trillion over 10 years through budget caps on non-mandatory programs, with additional reductions under discussion in a second phase. While the bulk of the cuts are back-loaded – coming more in the future – the near-term cuts would still have an immediate impact. Applying conventional multipliers, the reduction of $30.5 billion in calendar year 2012 would reduce GDP by 0.3%, and result in roughly 323,000 fewer jobs (as depicted in the table below). In addition to the immediate cuts to spending, the debt ceiling agreement fails to continue two major policies which had been part of broad agreements in the past. The payroll tax holiday and extended unemployment insurance were passed last December along with the two-year extension of the Bush-era tax cuts; but are set to expire at the end of 2011. While Congress could still extend these policies between now and the end of the year, that scenario is looking much less likely today. (Any economic support subsequent to this deal would have to be offset by other tax increases or spending cuts in 2012 or a further increase in the debt ceiling, neither of which seems politically viable.) And as Sec. Tim Geithner noted, even though our politicians finally raised the debt ceiling and averted a default on our debt, he is not sure if the United States still might be downgraded — Geithner unsure if U.S. debt to be downgraded: report . And as the LA Times reported — Moody’s and Fitch keep U.S. triple-A credit rating, but say outlook is negative . Rachel wrapped up her segment talking about how the administration has said they want to shift their focus to jobs now, apparently counting on some type of good will or cooperation from Republicans in doing so, but as she pointed out, we’ve seen absolutely no evidence that there’s any reason to believe that will happen.
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Footage from 1923 melodrama The White Shadow, one of the first films that Hitchcock worked on, identified in New Zealand film archive It’s the kind of unpredictable twist that even the celebrated film-maker might have found surprising: footage from a lost silent movie featuring work by Alfred Hitchcock has been discovered in New Zealand. The White Shadow, from 1923, is a melodrama starring US actor Betty Compson as twin sisters – one good, one evil – and Clive Brook. It was the first film that the 24-year-old Hitchcock worked on. He was writer, assistant director, editor and production designer on the project. Three reels comprising the first 30 minutes of the movie were left at the New Zealand Film Archive in 1989 by the family of a New Zealand projectionist and film collector, but were only recently identified. No one knows where the remaining three reels are and no other copy of the film is thought to exist. “This is him showing how multi-talented he was at a very young age,” Frank Stark, head of the New Zealand archive, told stuff.co.nz . “There were also stories [that] the named director – Graham Cutts – of the film wasn’t the greatest. To a large degree Hitchcock filled in the gaps, even took over you might say. “So this is a really early sign of just how broadly skilled Hitchcock was. Hitchcock was famous, in his later films for having a meticulous control of all the detail, from the acting performance right down to the sets and costumes. I think it’s an early sign of just how precocious he was.” David Sterritt, chairman of the National Society of Film Critics, told the BBC that the discovery was “one of the most significant developments in memory”. “These first three reels offer a priceless opportunity to study his visual and narrative ideas when they were first taking shape,” he said. The prints were sent to the Film Archive by New Zealander Tony Osborne in 1989 following the death of their owner and his grandfather, the projectionist and collector Jack Murtagh. They were originally included with a number of unidentified American nitrate prints and were only recently identified by nitrate expert Leslie Lewis, who works at the archive. “From boyhood, my grandfather was an avid collector – be it films, stamps, coins or whatever,” said Osborne. “He was known, internationally, as having one of the largest collection of cigarette cards and people would travel from all over the world to view his collection. Some would view him as rather eccentric. He would be quietly amused by all the attention now generated by these important film discoveries.” The reels were originally labelled “Twin Sisters”, and it was only due to Lewis’s diligence that they were identified as part of The White Shadow. The archivist noticed the resemblance in style to Hitchcock’s early work and confirmed her suspicions by trawling through contemporary reviews of the movie. The footage is to be preserved at Park Road Post Production in Wellington. The film will be added to the catalogue at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Hitchcock collection in Los Angeles. Alfred Hitchcock New Zealand Ben Child guardian.co.uk
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Luke March resigns as Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority’s compliance officer after apparent clash over transparency guidelines Parliament’s troubled expenses watchdog suffered a fresh blow on Wednesday when a senior official resigned after an apparent clash over transparency guidelines. Luke March resigned as the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority’s (Ipsa) compliance officer a week after he declined to name MPs facing investigations over their expenses. His resignation followed an interview with the Press Association last week in which he said it would be “unfair” to identify MPs before any allegations are proved. He indicated that there should be no publicity if they are cleared, though wrongdoers would be identified. March’s resignation appears to follow a debate within Ipsa over the guidelines to the 2009 Parliamentary Standards Act, which set up the body . These said that there would be an assumption that details of a full investigation would be published, though this would be at the discretion the compliance officer. In a letter to Sir Ian Kennedy, the Ipsa chair, March wrote: “Thank you for your time earlier today. As I explained during our conversation, after much thought and with a good deal of regret, I have come to the conclusion that the role of compliance officer for Ipsa is not the right role for me. On that basis, I have decided that the sensible thing for me to do is to resign the post. “So please accept this letter as formal notification of my resignation from the post effective from today. May I wish you and the other board members the very best in taking Ipsa forward.” Kennedy replied: “Thank you for your letter of 27 July and for notice of your resignation from the post of compliance officer. I accept, with regret, and understand your conclusion that the role is not the right one for you. I know you did not reach this conclusion lightly or hastily. I should like to take this opportunity to thank you for your efforts over recent months and to wish you well for the future.” Martyn Taylor is to serve as interim compliance officer for an initial period of six months. Kennedy told MPs earlier this year that preliminary investigations had been launched into the expenses of 40 MPs since the general election. It had been assumed that their details would be published. But March, who succeeded the interim compliance officer Alan Lockwood in June, told the Press Association he would be publishing details until wrongdoing was proven. “The reason why I am not [publishing] now is that we are doing this all for the first time,” he said. “One of the things that makes me nervous is the lack of proportionality. Compared to the previous world some of the things we are looking at are relatively small. “But the system does not make any distinction between major problems and trivial mistakes. Quite a lot of these cases I am referring to have resulted in immediate resolution.” March said that some of the allegations were related to mistakes by Ipsa. “I wanted to be fair to all sides,” he said. ‘”With an MP their reputation is important. I am meeting MPs every week and it is like walking on thin ice. “They are terrified that I might have the wrong idea about a particular fact, even if it is just about a small claim. I do not feel confident with the information that I have got at the moment. I would be very concerned about publishing allegations against MPs which may not be true. I want to be absolutely certain before I publish anything that I have got the facts.” MPs’ expenses House of Commons Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk
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The plant, set up to supply fuel for nuclear, will be shut as a consequence of Fukushima, with the loss of about 600 jobs The MOX fuel plant at Sellafield will be closed on Wednesay afternoon, with the loss of about 600 jobs. The closure is a consequence of the Fukushima incident in Japan , in March. Workers at the plant were told on Wednesday morning that there was “considerable scope” for them to be re-employed in other parts of the Sellafield complex. It will take several months for the plant to close fully. The West Cumbrian mixed-oxide fuel plant has cost the taxpayer £1.4bn since it was commissioned in the early 1990s. The plant, operated by the government-owned Nuclear Decomissioning Authority , was set up to create mixed-oxide fuel for use in nuclear power plants, with its chief customers the Japanese nuclear industry, including the Fukushima complex. The plant was built in 1996 and became operational in 2001. NDA denied there were any repercussions for the troubled Thorp reprocessing plant , although Thorp is also involved in generating MOX fuel, which is made from plutonium and uranium. The announcement will officially be made public at 2.30pm on Wednesday afternoon. Nuclear power Energy Energy industry Japan disaster Japan Fiona Harvey guardian.co.uk
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The City had been using £1.4bn a starting point for any bidders for Northern Rock, but this has now fallen to £1.1bn Ron Sandler, chairman of Northern Rock, insisted taxpayers would eventually be “well rewarded” for bailing out the Newscastle lender even if the current sales process fails to achieve a £1.4bn price tag for the nationalised lender. The taxpayer lent Northern Rock £27bn in the “dark days” of the 2008 banking crisis, when Sandler was parachuted in by the government as it was nationalised . It has since been split into two: Northern Rock plc which is now up for sale; and Northern Rock Asset Management (NRAM) , the “bad” bank that holds the bulk of the taxpayer loan. Some £1.4bn of the total £27bn loan was used to support Northern Rock plc, and turned into equity after the split last year, and its first half figures published on Wednesday show that this has now fallen in value to £1.1bn. The City had been using £1.4bn a starting point for any bidders but Sandler stressed that the price fetched from the sale could not be looked at in isolation in assessing returns to the taxpayer and that the repayment of the rest of loan by NRAM needed to be considered. “If I’m a taxpayer and I’m asking the question ‘was the support appropriately rewarded’, it is the bigger question I would ask you to focus on,” Sandler said. “I am confident the taxpayer will be well rewarded,” he added. The deadline for bids was last week and Sandler refused to identify the potential buyers and stressed that there was no timetable in place to complete a deal. “I am pleased with the level of interest that has been received,” Sandler said. He also said that while a sale was being pursued, other options – a flotation or remutualisation – had not been ruled out. For the first time, he has set a target for a return to profitability in the second half of 2012 – some four years after it was nationalised – as the lender reported a loss of £78.8m in the first six months of 2011. This was in line with expectations and “significantly reduced” on the loss of £140m in the first half of 2010. The bank was allowed to resume lending last year but its mortgage book has grown only slowly from £12.2bn at the end of 2010 to £12.5bn at the end of June. Gross mortgage lending in the first half of 2011 was £1.5bn, including mortgage retention business of £0.3bn. “The lending profile has been managed for value rather than volume, which resulted in a reduction in completions in the first half compared with the same period in 2010,” Northern Rock said. The number of arrears cases has continued to gradually increase over the first half of the year but remains below the industry average. In March, Northern Rock announced 680 job cuts . Half of those affected have left, with the rest expected to go in the remaining part of the year. More jobs could be lost, Sandler admitted. UK Asset Resolution – the “bad” part of Northern Rock that has been merged with the Bradford & Bingley mortgage book that was nationalised in September 2008 – has already returned to profit. Last week it reported an increase in profits to £344m in the first six months of 2011 . The Unite union said Northern Rock had shed thousands of workers since it was brought to the brink of collapse by the financial crisis. “The reality behind these results is that over the last four years the staff who in no way brought the bank to near collapse, have paid with changes to their pensions and the loss of over 3,000 colleagues. Yet the greedy management under Adam Applegarth [the former chief executive] have sailed away in their multi-million pound yachts,” said Brian Cole, Unite officer. “It should be recognised that while Northern Rock made a loss, NRAM which split from the bank, has paid £2.1bn in the last 18 months, and has made a pre-tax profit of £344m for the first half of this year. Unite continues to question the rationale behind the split of the Northern Rock business,” he added. Northern Rock Banking Jill Treanor guardian.co.uk
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Oil giant faces a bill of hundreds of millions of dollars following class action suit brought on behalf of communities in Bodo, Ogoniland Shell faces a bill of hundreds of millions of dollars after accepting full liability for two massive oil spills that have devastated a Nigerian community of 69,000 people and may take at least 20 years to clean up. Oil spill experts who have studied video footage of the spills at Bodo in Ogoniland say the spills could together be as large as the 1989 Exxon Valdez disater in Alaska when 10m gallons of oil was spilt. Until now, Shell has claimed that less than 40,000 gallons were spilt. Papers seen by the Guardian show that following a class action suit in London over the past four months, the company has accepted responsibility for the double rupture in 2008 of the 50-year-old Bodo-Bonny trans-Niger pipeline that pumps 120,000 barrels of oil a day though the community. Ogoniland is the small region of the Niger delta which threw out Shell in 1994 for its pollution but then saw eight of its leaders, including the writer Ken Saro-Wiwa , executed by the goverment. The crude oil that gushed unchecked from the two Bodo spills which occurred within months of each other in 2008 has clearly devastated the 20 sq km network of creeks and inlets on which Bodo and as many as 30 other smaller settlements depend for food, water and fuel. No attempt has been made to clean up the oil, which has collected on the creek sides, washes in and out on the tides and has seeped deep into the water table and farmland. According to the communities in Bodo, in two years the company has only offered £3,500 together with 50 bags of rice, 50 bags of beans and a few cartons of sugar, tomatoes and groundnut oil. The offers were rejected as “insulting, provocative and beggarly” by the chiefs of Bodo, but later accepted on legal advice. Shell’s acceptance of full liability for the spills follows a class action suit bought on behalf of communities by London law firm Leigh Day and Co , which represented the Ivory Coast community that suffered health damage following the dumping of toxic waste by a ship leased to multinational oil company Trafigura in 2006. Many other impoverished communities in the delta are now expected to seek damages for oil pollution against Shell in the British courts. On average, there are three oil spills a day by Shell and other companies working in the delta. Shell consistently blames the spills on local youths who, they argue, sabotage their network of pipelines. “The news that Shell has accepted liability in Britain will be greeted with joy in the delta. The British courts may now be inundated with legitimate complaints,” said Patrick Naagbartonm, corordinator for the Centre of Environment and Human Rights in Port Harcourt. Later this week the company will be heavily implicated by the UN for the environmental disaster in the Niger delta which has seen more than 7,000 oil spills in the low lying swamps and farmland since 1989. Shell first discovered oil in the Niger delta in 1956. According to Amnesty International, more than 13m barrels of oil have been spilt in the delta, twice as much as by BP in last year’s Gulf of Mexico spill . The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report, funded by Shell, will be presented to president Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday and is expected to be released on Friday in London. UNEP’s report, the first peer-reviewed scientific study of more than 60 spills, is expected to to say that oil pollution in Ogoniland is much worse than previously believed, having sunk deep into the water table. Many spills have not been cleared up since 1970 and the effects on the local economy, health and development have been severe. The report will not apportion blame for individual spills. International oil spill asessment experts who have seen the Bodo spill believe that it could cost the company more than $100m to clean up properly and restore the devastated mangrove forests that used to line the creeks and rivers but which have been killed by the oil. Proceedings against Royal Dutch Shell and Shell petroleum development company (SPDC) Nigeria began in the high court on 6 April 2011. Last week Shell Nigeria said: “SPDC accepts responsibility under the Oil Pipelines Act for the two oil spills both of which were due to equipment failure. SPDC acknowledges that it is liable to pay compensation -to those who are entitled to receive such compensation.” Oil spills Oil Energy Royal Dutch Shell Oil Oil and gas companies Nigeria Africa John Vidal guardian.co.uk
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Four ex-members of special forces unit sentenced for their part in slaughter of 201 civilians in 1982 during country’s civil war Three Guatemalan former special forces soldiers have been sentenced to 6,060 years in prison each for the 1982 massacre of 201 men, women and children during the Central American country’s civil war. A former army second lieutenant was also sentenced to 6,066 years in prison for the same massacre in the village of Dos Erres in Guatemala’s northern Peten region. The length of the sentences is largely symbolic since under Guatemalan law the maximum time a convict can serve is 50 years. The sentences for Manuel Pop Sun, Reyes Collin Gualip and Daniel Martinez include 30 years for each death, plus 30 years for crimes against humanity. The three men are former members the Guatemalan military’s elite Kaibil unit. Former Second Lieutenent Carlos Antonio Carias received an extra six years for stealing the victims’ belonging, the court said in a statement on Tuesday. Prosecutors say Carias was in charge of a military base near the community of Dos Erres and provided information to the army that led to the massacre. Outside the court, survivors of the massacre cried when the sentences were announced and held red roses. They spelled the word “justice” on the ground with red petals. “We waited many years for justice,” said survivor Raul de Jesus Gomez. “I saw when they were killing people. They had us kneeling for five hours and would put their rifles in our mouths every time we asked them to stop killing the others.” A group of the relatives of the accused soldiers shouted that the court was biased. Carias called the sentence “unjust” and said: “I would risk my life again for that honourable institution that is the army.” Court filings say 17 Kaibiles attacked the community of Dos Erres before dawn on 7 December 1982, looking for missing weapons that guerrilla groups operating in the region had stolen from the soldiers days earlier. They accused the farmers of collaborating with the rebels. While more than 40 soldiers guarded the perimeter of the community, the men raped and killed women and girls, and banished hundreds of people from the community, according to the filings. Dozens of bodies were exhumed from a well in the community in the 1990s and the remains from 171 victims were recovered in all. At least 67 children under the age of 12 were among the dead. Witnesses say villagers were tortured and robbed by the soldiers as part of a “scorched earth” effort to eliminate communities supporting insurgent groups at the height of Guatemala’s 36-year civil war. This is Guatemala’s second massacre trial related to its 1960-1996 civil war, when more than 200,000 people, mostly Mayan Indians, were killed or went missing and entire villages were exterminated, according to the United Nations. The first trial ended in a 2004 verdict against an officer and 13 soldiers, but the verdict was overturned on appeal. This trial had been delayed since 2000 through dozens of court injunctions. Another three Kaibiles from the same unit were detained in the United States, one has already been deported to Guatemala. A fourth one was detained in Canada. Guatemala has requested their extradition. Guatemala War crimes guardian.co.uk
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